Topic: daylighting

Articles

Seventhwave selected to scale up next generation of building efficiency

07.11.17 | The U.S. Department of Energy has selected Seventhwave and its partners to study and discover the energy and cost savings associated with integrated controls. "Seventhwave is proud to contribute to a national effort to drive innovation in reducing...MORE

09.17.13 | The September 2013 issue of the ASHRAE Journal features an article by senior energy engineers Scott Hackel and Scott Schuetter on best practices for commissioning automatic daylighting controls. They discuss the results of a study to monitor and...MORE

Daylighting analysis of Cannon Design

09.16.12 | Energy engineer Scott Schuetter, PE, LEED AP BD+C, provided daylighting analysis for the new Cannon Design office in Chicago, Illinois, as part of the ComEd and Nicor Gas New Construction Service. He wrote a piece for ComEd's newsletter, excerpted...MORE

Literature reviews

A Post-Occupancy Monitored Evaluation of the Dimmable Lighting, Automated Shading, and Underfloor Air Distribution System in the New York Times Building

02.01.13 | In this report, the authors discuss the major renovation of the New York Times building in Manhattan, New York. The New York Times occupies 19 floors and 628,000 gross square feet of their building. They recently undertook a major renovation...MORE

Lighting Controls in Commercial Buildings

04.29.13 | In this paper, the authors conduct a meta study of available research on the energy savings associated with lighting controls. In total, they summarize 88 papers, comprising 240 savings estimates of 4 controls strategies; daylighting, occupancy...MORE

Solar Zoning and Energy in Detached Residential Dwellings

04.29.13 | The amount of solar energy that a building receives in a year greatly affects its energy usage. In densely developed areas, a building can shade its neighbors, thereby impacting their energy usage. The Solar Envelope is a zoning tool that...MORE

Energy Use Intensity and its Influence on the Integrated Daylighting Design of a Large Net Zero Energy Building

04.29.13 | The authors discuss the daylighting design process associated with the Research Support Facility, a 220,000 ft2 office building on the National Renewable Energy Laboratory campus. From the beginning of design, the project had a goal of low energy...MORE

Lighting Research Center Research Areas: Daylighting

04.29.13 | This website hosts a variety of daylighting publications and case studies.
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Integrating Advanced Daylight Analysis into Building Energy Analysis

04.29.13 | DOE-2.2's daylight control modeling methodology has been shown to be inaccurate. An and Mason developed a methodology to more accurately predict the lighting savings from implementing daylight controls by adjusting the DOE-2.2 lighting schedules...MORE

On the Use of Integrated Daylighting and Energy Simulations to Drive the Design of a Large Net-Zero Energy Office Building

04.29.13 | Daylight modeling and energy modeling have evolved on similar, but parallel, paths. Both are powerful tools that have yet to be married in a seamless way.
This paper is a case study of the impact that these tools had on the design of the National...MORE

Multi-Objective Facade Optimization for Daylighting Design Using a Genetic Algorithm

04.29.13 | Genetric algorithms are a powerful method for determining the optimal set of inputs in order to achieve a desired result. In this paper, Gagne and Anderson develop a genetic algorithm for determining the set of facade parameters (window-to-wall...MORE

Lighting in Nursing Homes: the Unmet Need

04.29.13 | Noell-Waggoner describes the need for improved lighting and more daylighting in nursing homes. Age-related changes to the eye tend to decrease the amount of light that reaches the retinue. This leads to higher instances of accidents and disrupted...MORE

Dynamic Daylight Performance Metrics for Sustainable Building Design

04.29.13 | In this paper, Reinhart et al. investigates various dynamic daylight performance metrics and compares their advantages and disadvantages as opposed to static metrics.
Daylight factor is one such static metric that is defined as the ratio of internal...MORE

04.29.13 | In this paper, Reinhart explores the validity of various daylighting rule of thumb (DRT) design methodologies by checking their accuracy against Radiance-based models in Daysim. Specifically, the paper investigates the rule that a sidelit daylit...MORE

What's Wrong with Daylighting? Where It Goes Wrong and How Users Respond to Failure

04.29.13 | The authors summarize eight cases studies of various projects that employed daylighting controls. Each project encountered issues and the authors analyze the failure mechanism and how the users coped with them. A method of failure analysis is...MORE

Lightswitch-2002: a model for manual and automated control of electric lighting and blinds

04.29.13 | The IESNA Lighting Handbook indicates that lighting control performance information is not readily available and that it depends on indoor daylight levels, size of space, work schedules, and occupant attitude and training. In this paper, Reinhardt...MORE

Reviews of Technical Reports on Daylight and Productivity

04.29.13 | In October 2003, the California Energy Commission released three reports
prepared by the Heschong-Mahone Group under the Public Interest Energy Research program. These reports describe epidemiological studies of the impact of daylight on:...MORE

Windows and Offices: A Study of Office Worker Performance and the Indoor Environment

04.29.13 | The Heschong Mahone Group, supported by the California Energy Commission, conducted two field studies to determine the impact of the daylight and windows on office worker productivity. Both studies were of office workers at the Sacramento Municipal...MORE

Field Performance of Daylight-Linked Lighting Controls

04.29.13 | This paper evaluates the performance of photosensor-controlled electric lighting under different configurations of office spaces. Four offices spaces in Ottawa, Canada were studied, each having a floor area of 14 m2 (150 ft2), height of 3 m (9.8 ft...MORE

TripleSave - The Investigation and Monitoring of a Combined Natural Daylighting and Stack Ventilation System

04.29.13 | In this paper, Oakley et al develop a testing method for measuring the amount of natural daylight and passive ventilation a light pipe introduces into a test chamber. Two light pipes were analyzed, both having diameters of 0.215 m and lengths of 2....MORE

On the Calibration and Commissioning of Lighting Controls

04.29.13 | Rubinstein et al. discuss commissioning and calibration of lighting control systems. Specifically, they address the importance of both as well as advice for effective performance. In this context, commissioning is a process for ensuring the...MORE

Field Commissioning of a Daylight-Dimming Lighting System

04.29.13 | The authors performed a lighting retrofit on an elementary school cafeteria in Florida. The cafeteria had 70% glazing on its east and west facing facades, as well as vertical blinds. The retrofit replaced the magnetically-ballasted, 40W T12 lamps...MORE

04.29.13 | Rubinstein et al. analyze three different algorithms for dimming electric lights in response to changing daylight availability. The three basic components of a photo-electrically controlled light system are described: a photosensor for measuring...MORE

Initiatives

About our building

05.14.14 | In November 2013, we realized a dream we've had for nearly two decades—to live our mission by locating our headquarters in a green building.Our space tells an important economic story. The LEED Platinum Core and Shell building is developer-driven,...MORE

LEED Guide v.3.0

06.13.13 | LEED v.3.0 and Daylighting—Daylighting Isn't Just for Views
Learn how to get LEED points for EA credits as well as views.
LEED™ was created by the US Green Building Council as a guideline to help owners and design/construction professionals create...MORE

LEED Guide v.2.2

06.13.13 | LEED v.2.2 and Daylighting—Daylighting Isn't Just for Views
Learn how to get LEED points for EA credits as well as views.
LEED™ was created by the US Green Building Council as a guideline to help owners and design/construction professionals create...MORE

Commissioning for optimal savings from daylight controls

06.04.13 | Proper commissioning can lead to energy savings—often 60% or more
Daylighting control, or daylight harvesting, has become a common energy savings strategy in many sustainable building projects, but several barriers still prevent successful...MORE

Daylighting guidance

12.12.12 |
Good daylighting creates beautiful, appropriately lit spaces while saving energy.
Success comes from a combination of art and science, architecture and engineering. Rather than relying solely on electric lighting during the day, daylighting brings...MORE

Publications

Tip sheet: Calibration and commissioning for energy savings from daylighting

06.04.13 | Automatic daylighting control is an energy savings strategy employed in many sustainable building projects. While considerable effort is often expended in the architectural and lighting design of daylighting control strategies, the actual execution...MORE

Energy Savings from Daylighting: A Controlled Experiment

09.20.12 | Demonstrating actual lighting and HVAC impacts from high performance glazing and daylighting strategies is difficult. While many schools and other buildings have been designed and built using these strategies, attempts to compare energy consumption...MORE

06.14.13 | The Association of State Energy Research and Technology Transfer Institutions, Inc. (ASERTTI) and the National Association of State Energy Officials (NASEO) with the Department of Energy (DOE) and the EnergySmart Schools Program conducted a joint...MORE

Performance Monitoring of a Daylit Commercial Building

09.20.12 | Report presents the results of detailed energy use monitoring of the Hoffman Corporation headquarters, a daylit building located in Appleton, Wisconsin. Includes analysis of lighting energy use, chiller energy use, lighting levels and employee...MORE

09.20.12 | Study developed an approach to a statewide daylighting program (implemented as ECW's Daylighting Collaborative) ordered by the Public Service Commission of Wisconsin in 1996. The Commission order stated that the program should address demonstration...MORE

Tools

Back of the Envelope Calculator

11.07.11 | Play and learn
Our Back-of-the-Envelope calculator is a learning tool that allows anyone to interact with a building as an energy system. You can see real-time energy connections between building components, isolate the effects of changing a single...MORE

Videos

Vision and sustainable strategies: our new building

12.19.13 | Frank Greb and Scott Hackel share the vision for our new space and give a brief technical overview of the HVAC system (including variable refrigerant flow geothermal) and lighting/daylighting strategies.
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12.18.13 | Daylight modeling is important for understanding light levels, environmental quality and energy saving impacts of early design decisions. Many daylight modeling tools have been developed, each with their own strengths and weaknesses. In this video,...MORE

Webinars

Implementation of successful daylighting control systems

12.14.12 | Daylighting control, or daylight harvesting, has become a common energy-savings strategy when designing for sustainability. Although automatic daylighting controls are growing in popularity, several barriers still exist to successfully implement...MORE

Daylighting in the Midwest: tools and analysis

12.12.12 | Daylighting is the technique of bringing natural light into a space and using it to enhance the space's visual quality as well as energy performance. Quality daylighting design practices had fallen out of favor, but are experiencing resurgence as...MORE

Daylighting fundamentals

12.12.12 | Daylighting is the technique of bringing natural light into a space and using it to enhance the space's visual quality as well as energy performance. Quality daylighting design practices had fallen out of favor, but are experiencing resurgence as...MORE

Daylight control and performance specifications: LEDs and more

01.16.12 | Daylighting is the technique of bringing natural light into a space and using it to enhance the space's visual quality as well as energy performance. LEDs are a dynamic new technology with tremendous potential.
This webinar will touch on the...MORE